Kelly Looks To Witness For Alibi

Accused Wife Killer May Have Been In Loop During Slaying

Accused killer James Kelly said Monday that he has a new witness to prove that he was in downtown Chicago the morning when he is alleged to have murdered his former wife at her Naperville townhouse.

In a telephone interview from the DuPage County Jail, Kelly, 50, said an employee at the office of his divorce lawyer, Jeffrey Leving, recently recalled seeing Kelly about 9 a.m. on Dec. 3, 1991. Kelly declined to name the employee, saying only that it wasn't a lawyer in the firm.

Naperville police believe that Jayne Kelly, who was embroiled in a bitter battle with her former husband over finances and custody of their children, was killed about 8:45 a.m., after she had dropped her children off at school.

The new witness is the second to claim that Kelly was in the Loop around 9 a.m. The first, a bus driver named William Breland, reported seeing Kelly in front of his office at 33 W. Monroe St., just before 9 a.m., authorities said.

The new witness may be important to Kelly's defense, because prosecutors need to show that Kelly had enough time to drive to Naperville, kill his wife and get back downtown, a drive that normally takes anywhere from 40 to 90 minutes each way.

DuPage County Assistant State's Atty. Joseph Birkett, the lead prosecutor on the case, declined to comment, citing a gag order. Kelly is scheduled to be in court Tuesday morning, when the new witness may be discussed further.

Kelly's attorney, Paul Dengel, also declined to comment.

When asked why the witness waited three years before coming forward with the information, Kelly said, "Nobody asked them. . . . I don't know what the person was thinking."

Kelly said he dropped off some papers pertaining to his divorce at Leving's office about 9 a.m. on the day of the killing. The witness was discovered by Kelly's defense team in recent weeks when they interviewed employees at Leving's office.

No one could be reached at Leving's office late Monday.

Prosecutors contend that Kelly, a former Merrill Lynch vice president, abused his wife and threatened her after the divorce. They allege Kelly attempted to hire others to kill her, and when those plans failed, committed the murder himself.

But Dengel has argued that other than a motive, the state has no physical evidence, such as blood, eyewitnesses or a murder weapon, to link Kelly to the crime.